Care Finder Program

support person who can help them, or

• Not have a carer or support person they feel comfortable with or trust to support them

• Be eligible for governmentfunded aged care

In addition, they should have one or more of these reasons for needing intensive support:

The Care Finder Program is now fully operational in South Australia and embedded in the aged care system nationally.

Care finders provide specialist and intensive assistance to vulnerable older people to understand and access aged care and connect with other relevant supports in the community. They also help find support services to improve a person’s quality of life. Care finders can help with accessing services for the first time and changing or finding new services and supports.

Care finders help people by:

• Talking to My Aged Care on their behalf and arranging an assessment

• Attending and providing support at the assessment

• Finding and short-listing aged care providers in their area

• Completing forms and explaining the aged care service agreements

• Checking in to ensure everything is okay

• Solving other challenges and connecting to supports in the community, such as health, mental health, housing and homelessness, drug and alcohol services and community groups

To receive care finder support:

• A person must have no carer or

• Have difficulty communicating because of language or literacy problems

• Find it difficult to understand information and make decisions

• Be reluctant to engage with aged care services

• Be in an unsafe situation if they do not receive services

Care finder organisations within SA are working together by forming a community of practice to ensure the program delivers the best support to vulnerable older people.

There are 15 care finder providers across the state. Please visit the Aged Care website to find out more about the providers in your region.

Care finder services in SA are funded by Adelaide PHN and Country SA PHN through the Australian Government’s PHN Program.